Saturday, April 14, 2007

Pride

Pride. Isn't that one of the seven deadly sins?

Putting aside the notion of divine retribution, the Big Seven don't do much to help human relations, no matter who's in charge.

The recent White Pride email I had the misfortune to see exemplifies the misplaced conceit some people seem compelled to feel about things they possess, but did not create. You happen to receive a body with a certain set of characteristics when you come into this world. People who lived before you prepare a set of circumstances for you. Neither of these should be a point of pride.

Don't confuse pride with self respect. Don't confuse pride with a sense of accomplishment. You can feel good about yourself without being proud. If you feel proud of your circumstances or the attributes you happened to receive at birth, you are part of the problem, not the solution.

This is true regardless of your background.

Anyone who has triumphed over adversity deserves to feel a sense of accomplishment. This does not mean the wronged can do no wrong. The wronged may need to be even more alert to avoid a sense of entitlement beyond what is reasonable. Someone born into a currently or recently downtrodden group falls under even more pressure to feel solidarity and some measure of entitlement in compensation.

Some say the situation is hopeless. Some days I am one of them. But that doesn't mean I don't have to watch where I put my feet and how much I look down my nose. No sense making things worse. They might work out in a century or two.

2 comments:

saying one has "white pride" is like saying, "I'm so proud I came out of a white woman's vagina!" It doesn't make any sense. You don't PICK your parents. The fact that you are a certain race means you randomly came out of some woman's birth canal who happens to be of a certain race. Whoo-hoo! Somebody white reproduced! big deal. Anywhoo, "white pride" is dumb.

I don't think it's hopeless; let me tell you why. People used to be all weird about homosexuality, but younger folks now are far more accepting of it than they were 20 years ago (or more). So this gives me hope for all of it.

I personally think 'pride' is dangerous. Don't even get me started on 'nationalism.'